SOPHIA 100th ANNIVERSARY
SOPHIA JUNIOR COLLEGE 40th ANNIVERSARY
SOPHIA SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WELFARE 50th ANNIVERSARY
The Brick-by-Brick Fund-Raising Campaign for Building Number 1 NO.8
1. Sophia’s Building Number 1 was constructed thanks to the generous financial
contributions from people all over the world
The German Jesuit Father Hubert Cieslik, a gifted scholar of the history of Japan
during the periods of religious persecutions of Christians, used to recall his youth
whenever he walked past Building Number 1.
“Even now, whenever I walk near here, I
recall that a brick that I and my classmates
paid for is somewhere within this building.”
By ‘here’, Father Cieslik meant the building
constructed on the Sophia campus in 1932.
Speaking more precisely, the building to
whose construction he contributed is the
successor to the red brick university building,
A recent picture of Building Number 1
and is not constructed of bricks at all. Rather,
it is a ferro-concrete-constructed structure with a total of five floors (four above ground,
the fifth a semi-basement). Therefore, why could he say that the brick he purchased was
somewhere inside this building?
In 1928, following the guidelines of the Law on Universities, Sophia was raised to the
status of a university, in answer to the fervent desires of the administrators and faculty
members. Consequently, a school building that could
provide for many more students became urgently
necessary. A campaign to raise a building fund by
contributions from outside Japan was therefore started
immediately. Another German Jesuit priest, Bruno
Bitter, had to busy himself with such fund-raising
activities. He set up a fund-raising office in Cologne in
Germany and arranged for paper leaflets describing the
Father Bruno Bitter, SJ
goal of the fund-raising to be sent to Catholic schools and
churches not only in Germany but also in the Netherlands, France, the United States
and elsewhere.
The Brick-by-Brick Fund-Raising Campaign for Building Number1 - 1 -
An example of the German-language version of
this fund-raising leaflet is reprinted on the right.
The leaflet picture shows a drawing of the red
brick school building at Sophia that was
destroyed during the Great Kanto Earthquake.
Below the picture, the German text begins with
the request: Would you please help to build this
again? Underneath the text is a drawing of 25
bricks (horizontal rectangles) arranged in six
rows
on
top
of
each
other.
One
each
brick/rectangle is written the sum of one
Reichsmark. The text on the fundraising leaflet
continues: Please embed one or two of these
bricks, with your name written on each one, in
This photograph shows one form of the
our new school building. The drawing shows the
sheet
handwritten
each
rectangles represent bricks. 1 RM means
brick/rectangle. Some brick surfaces do not
one Reichsmark. The names of the donors
contain any names, for persons of good will
are in handwriting.
names
of
donors
on
for
soliciting
donations.
The
pledged the money anonymously. One can see
the name of the same person on more than one brick/rectangle. Some of the handwriting
is obviously that of a small child. Sometimes the written name does not cover the entire
brick/rectangle, for cases where the amount donated was less than one Reichsmark.
Many of these donation pledge pamphlets are carefully preserved in the Archives of
Sophia. If one counts the pledge sheets available, one finds German pledges in first
place with 19,375 bricks, 400 pledge bricks from France, and 75 from America.
Father Cieslik wrote an article for a Festschrift in honor of Father Bitter, which
appeared in the Jesuit-sponsored devotional magazine “The Messenger of the Sacred
Heart”. Father Cieslik explained: I was a junior high school student, about fourteen or
fifteen years old. One day, one of those fund-raising leaflets found its way into our
classroom. My classmates and I had only very small amounts of spending money, but
when we pooled our money together, we could buy one brick. When Father Klaus
Luhmer proceeded to Germany as Chancellor of Jochi Gakuin to raise money for the
new Faculty of Science and Engineering, the former Chancellor of Germany Konrad
Adenauer told a similar story: I remember that my son brought home such a
fund-raising leaflet.
One more well-known world figure had a great influence on the fund-raising for
The Brick-by-Brick Fund-Raising Campaign for Building Number1 - 2 -
Sophia’s new academic building. This was Pope Pius the
Eleventh. The Pope supported the fund raising activity by
writing: I will gladly bestow my Papal Blessing along with
my fatherly thanks and great love on all beloved faithful who
contribute some money to the school building construction
program at Sophia University.
There
were
two
types
of
acknowledgement certificates
for
contributions
to
this
building fund campaign. One
Pope Pius XI
is shown in the picture on the left. The other had a
picture of 50 bricks piled up to make a wall. On this
certificate was written: Please help the efforts of the
Pope to build a new academic building for the Catholic
University in Tokyo. The Pope earnestly requests your
cooperation. Whatever you give to the Pope, you give to
the Risen Lord. As many as 3150 brick contributions
This certificate says that, during the Holy
Year of 1929, the religious sisters of the
Freidrich
Hospital
in
Willingen
have
donated five Reichsmark to the Catholic
University in Tokyo out of love and respect
for His Holiness Pope Pius the Eleventh,
on the occasion of the golden jubilee of his
ordination to the priesthood.
were raised by these Papal-assisted efforts. Thus, our
Building Number 1 was supported by donations from
people all over the world. The construction was
completed thanks to the good will of so many
individuals, as expressed in the Red Brick
Fund-Raising campaign.
2. Some Historical Changes Involving Building
Number 1
The cornerstone laying ceremony for Building Number 1 was
conducted in 1930 with considerable dignity. Inside the
cornerstone were placed the related documents, the lists of
faculty members and current students, a medallion of
Cardinal O’Connell, newly minted Japanese coins, and other
items. The building was completed on June 12, 1932. Even
before the completion, 32,000 volumes were arranged in the
This photograph shows Fr. Hoffmann, the
university president, reading the cornerstone
documents in Latin during the cornerstone
library rooms, and classes had started that April. The
architect was a Swiss professional named Max Hinder.
The building-related property measured about 4580
laying ceremony of Building Number 1.
The Brick-by-Brick Fund-Raising Campaign for Building Number1 - 3 -
square meters. The lengthy building completion
ceremonies lasted from June 12th through June 19th.
Events included a public commemorative ceremony,
presentations
of
recorded
music,
dramatic
performances, commemorative lectures, a lecture
about Goethe and a movie of his famous work Faust.
The new university orchestra presented a concert, the
The picture shows classroom 1-403 full
journalism department sponsored an exhibition, and
of wide-awake male students of Sophia
the clubs for mountain climbing and for automobile
about 1935
tours participated. The representative from the Holy
See to Japan was kind enough to join some of the ceremonies. The international flavor
of the completion ceremonies was increased by the presence of many guests, including
some from overseas.
Having escaped damage from the bombs dropped during the raids on Tokyo during the
Second World War, Building Number 1 remains today as the oldest university building.
At the time of its completion, the building was a source of pride because of its modern
design, complete with an elevator that no longer exists, and because of its typically
German sturdy construction. On the first floor, the building featured a spacious
entrance area, with offices, a library and a reading room. On the second, third, and
fourth floors, one could find a variety of small and large classrooms. In the basement,
there was a dining room for students, a Japanese bath, and a room for changing clothes,
along with a workshop and rooms for machines. On the
second and third floors of the west section, there was a
multi-purpose auditorium. This was used before the war
for the opening ceremonies of the school year and for the
graduation ceremonies of the university, as well as for
public
lectures
and
This picture shows the auditorium
presentations of student
in Building Number 1. It could seat
drama clubs. After the
about 310 people and was used for a
war, the room was used
variety of purposes.
as a very large classroom
for
community
college
events and general education classes. When the
university gymnasium was built in 1971, many of the
major ceremonies were shifted there, because it was
much wider. The former auditorium was and is
Student drama clubs could present
plays in the Little Theatre of
Sophia, the present version of the
auditorium of Building Number 1.
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primarily used for student theatrical and dance productions.
3. Another Red Brick Building Fund Campaign is planned for the new 21st century
Sophia University will celebrate the centennial of its foundation in 2013. It hopes to
accomplish educational activities of such a high level that it will be internationally
evaluated as an institution that can compete with the best educational institutions in
the world. A building fund campaign is under way to achieve these high aims. This will
be positioned as the 21st century version of the Red Brick Fund Raising Drive. We hope
that many graduates living in Japan and many living overseas will generously respond
to these appeals.
.
The Brick-by-Brick Fund-Raising Campaign for Building Number1 - 5 -